California state government depends on cybersecurity leaders who can work across large agencies, complex infrastructure, privacy obligations, and public sector compliance demands. The professionals in this feature come from departments and offices with very different missions, but their backgrounds consistently point to responsibility for security operations, risk management, privacy, incident response, infrastructure protection, and long-term program development across state government environments.
Douglas Leone — Chief Information Security Officer, Employment Development Department, State of California
Douglas Leone is chief information security officer at California’s Employment Development Department. His career in public sector cybersecurity has focused on information security leadership across California agencies, with experience in strategy, oversight, and the development of security programs inside state government environments.
Before joining the Employment Development Department, Leone served as chief information security officer at the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control from February 2017 to August 2019. Earlier, he held agency and departmental information security roles at the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, building a background rooted in California state government security operations and leadership.
Matthew Mello — Chief Information Security Officer, California Department of Education
Matthew Mello has served as chief information security officer at the California Department of Education since October 2024. In that role, he oversees the department’s Information Security & Privacy Office and is responsible for managing the information security program, ensuring compliance with policies, identifying and remediating security gaps, and coordinating incident response and disaster recovery.
Before joining the California Department of Education, Mello was privacy, risk, and compliance bureau chief at the California Department of Social Services. He also served as information security officer for California Complete Count Census 2020 and earlier worked as privacy officer at the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. That progression shows a background rooted in privacy, compliance, security governance, and public sector risk management.
Ken Kojima — Chief Information Security Officer, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Ken Kojima has been chief information security officer at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation since April 2019. He moved into the role after serving as cyber security intelligence operations center supervisor and security operations supervisor within the same department.
His earlier work at the department included system software specialist in agency security and agency information security analyst roles. The responsibilities listed across those positions include secure networks, disaster recovery documentation, security event monitoring and investigation, data loss prevention administration, proxy and firewall review, executive issue papers on security risks, policy development, compliance audits, and employee information security training. His career inside the department shows a steady rise through operational, analytical, and supervisory security roles before becoming CISO.
Russ Watts — Chief Information Security and Data Privacy Officer, California Department of Transportation
Russ Watts is chief information security and data privacy officer at the California Department of Transportation, a role he has held since April 2024. Before stepping into that position, he served in multiple infrastructure and technology leadership roles at Caltrans, including branch chief for infrastructure services, chief of infrastructure service branch, chief of server infrastructure and identity management, and chief of identity and access management within enterprise services.
Earlier in his career, Watts worked at the California Student Aid Commission as chief information officer and spent several years with the California Department of Fish and Game in senior infrastructure-focused roles. His background is closely tied to enterprise directory services, identity and access management, server infrastructure, storage, virtualization, email, and network engineering, giving him a strong infrastructure foundation behind his current security and privacy leadership work.
Doug Novak — Deputy State Chief Information Security Officer, California Department of Technology
Doug Novak has served as deputy state chief information security officer at the California Department of Technology since July 2025. Before that, he was security operations center manager and earlier held the role of security solutions administration manager within the department.
At the same time, Novak also held leadership roles connected to the California Cyber Security Integration Center, including mission support branch chief and acting commander. His earlier career included network administrator roles with the Department of Fish & Game OSPR and the California Highway Patrol. The through line in his background is long-term public sector technology and cybersecurity work, with more recent leadership centered on statewide security operations and cyber coordination.
Daniel Pere — Chief Information Security Officer, Office of Systems Integration / California State Controller’s Office
Daniel Pere has served as chief information security officer at the California State Controller’s Office since February 2024. Before that, he was information security officer at the Office of Systems Integration for nearly five years.
Earlier, Pere worked at the California Highway Patrol as business continuity and disaster recovery coordinator and backup information security officer. The roles in his background point to experience across incident response, security training, business continuity, disaster recovery, and public sector information security leadership. His move from the Office of Systems Integration to the State Controller’s Office continues a career focused on operational security and resilience inside California government.
Security Leadership Across California Government
Taken together, these profiles show how California state government cybersecurity leadership is built across many connected disciplines rather than a single narrow track. Some leaders rose through infrastructure and identity management, others through privacy and compliance, and others through operations centers, disaster recovery, or agency security functions. What they share is sustained experience inside public institutions where security work has to support continuity, accountability, and mission delivery at scale.
Explore more profiles of the leaders shaping cybersecurity across numerous industries in our CISOs to Watch collection.